hurricane states

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
see how life's treating you
you were so beautiful

I thought I'd look you up
but names just tumble from you
names and men and mobile homes
you go through southern states

I find you when I find you
in crime reports and
been-there mug shots
but how else can a girl
get her face in the news?

one story has you
walking home at 4am
screaming at dark houses
fighting strangers two at a time
they said you sank your teeth into them

one story has you
in your trailer 2am
telling your fiancee
walk away or I'll cut your throat
they said you did it, then swallowed pills

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
see how life's treating you
you were so beautiful

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
nothing left but concrete where
a trailer used to be

dancing in a small room

[[ At its simplest level, just two people dancing in a confined space (maybe the kitchen at a party) and falling in love. ]]

dancing in a small room
dancing with the world
dancing with the world
dancing with the world (with the world)
turning round my head

dancing in a small room
just you and you and me
just you and me and you
just me and you and you (you you you)
turning my head round

dancing in a small room
if I said I love you
if you said I love you
if I said I love you (I love you)
turning my world round

it feels like

[[ A love song of sorts. ]]

it feels like  

it feels like flying  

it feels good  

it feels like  

it feels like dying  

it feels good  

  

pushing clouds away  

pushing back the day  

pushing today back into the box and sending it home  

it feels like  

it feels like crawling  

it feels good  

it feels like  

it feels like falling  

it feels good  

it feels like love should feel like love  

it feels like love should feel like love  

it feels like love should feel like love  

it feels like love should feel like love  

it feels like 

it feels like dying  

it feels good  

Attenborough's Day Off

[[ A description of a real morning but with the observer transformed from a groggy parent eating toast into a bit of a voyeuristic, lecherous naturalist. ]]

Even the cat conspires,

the cat and Captain Underpants,

to douse my dream,

so I sit up, Nosferatu

on a hinge. Sunday morning

early, when a decent man 

would sleep, is full of sound.

Outside the open window

long bare legs are

flexing as she sways,  

her auburn hair flows down 

her back in early sun, 

her head is tilted to his, 

her eyes are in his eyes,

their tongues are tasting 

one last clinking beer.

They have so much to say 

but cannot keep their mouths 

apart for Jesus going on an hour, 

and her peculiar rocking on 

her long bare legs as if 

she sways to unheard music 

or as if -- they look around, 

he finds an opening in the 

wire fence around the lot 

behind them and she crouches

through alone.

He stands and smokes and looks 

the other way while she 

wades through tall grass and yarrow,

indigenous to these parts, 

to squat and disappear and

bare her bountiful cheeks

to all the creatures of the field, 

then reemerges.

They toss their bottles in the grass 

and walk to the first bus

before a panther falls from a tree. 

intentional love song 19: this is how you fall in love

[[ This could be a silly little old-fashioned song with some flighty young thing dodging the advances of a Maurice Chevalier type, or it could be a thing of menace with an awful creeper pushing himself on her. Or both. Is she feeling safe and free to choose? Or is she actually in a scary spot and feeling like she has no choice? And play with the genders to get interesting results: she's a he and he's a she, or two women, or two men. ]]

oh, look at the time

oh, how it's getting late

oh, here comes my train 

oh, get me out of here, out of here,

oh, here comes my fate

this is where a girl should be careful

what was I thinking of?

this is where a boy could be a handful

this is how you fall in love

oh, look at the time

oh, how it's getting late

oh, there goes my train 

oh, get me out of here, out of here,

oh, here comes my fate

this is where a girl should be careful

what was I thinking of?

this is where a boy could be more than a handful

this is how you fall in love

this is where a girl should be careful
this is where a girl should be coy

this is where a girl should be forceful

this is where a girl should be

this is where a girl should be

this is where a girl should be

this is how you fall in love 

intentional love song 18: if they come for us

if they come for us, honey, we'll run 

we will wish ourselves 

into existence, 

we will wish ourselves 

far, far away

listen for thunder, 

count off the seconds,

wait for the falling rain

hurry the two of us 

up to the hilltop 

try to catch lightning again

venus and the lion man

[[ This is Venus and the lion man and a nod to last week's potatoes.  ]]

Venus and the lion man

emerge from the soil

rooted up with this year's crop 

of bulging potatoes.

toys of inspiration or the

roots of reproduction?

all cooked up by

last week's potatoes.

Venus and the lion man

emerge from the earth.

when are you coming down?

I see your eyes when 

I close my eyes

clouded like summer could rain

I see your eyes when 

I close my eyes

sunlight will not come again

when are you coming down, darling?

summer is fading away

autumn is whirling in dark clouds of starling  

loving is only today

when are you coming down, darling, my darling?

summer is fading away

intentional love song 17: a girl from Love Canal

she was a girl from Love Canal

she had a taste for the banal  

now she is dead - what of it?

now she is dead - what of it?

only her and me and the river, and only the only river means a thing

we would park out by the river

i would give what i could give her

now she is dead - what of it?

now she is dead - what of it?

only her and me and the river, and only the only river means a thing

she smelled of coconut and woman

i was young and barely human

now she is dead - what of it?

now she is dead - what of it?

now she's gone with her family

nothing and nothing to do with me

only her and me and the river, and only the only river means a thing

the family myth

in the family myth

we escape winter

we escape water 

we escape the amnesia of the sea

and somehow there's me

in the family myth

we escape desert 

we escape searchers 

we escape the arbitrary decree 

and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

in the family myth

we escape cages

we escape rages

we escape the rogues of history 

and somehow there's me

in the family myth

we escape post-war

we escape closed door

we escape the Land of the Free

and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

in the family myth

we know their order to shoot on sight

we cross the border and move by night

and go on

in the family myth

we cross the water of a rolling sea

and all of us, some of us, one of us

must slip free

and go on

in the family myth

we escape exposure 

we escape erasure

we escape the men who hack the family tree
and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

Imagined Geography 6: Limes Song

tell Olivia 

the view from this wall

it is beautiful

this river ever flowing

it is beautiful

the distant green-grey hills

all are beautiful

tell Olivia

if you get back to Rome

she is beautiful

tell Olivia

if you get back to Rome

I wish I were there

here is her picture

a lock of her hair

when you get back to Rome

say I wish I were there

Imagined Geography 1: Montana Song

bounded by perfect

four solid walls

north south east west

one good window

bounded by perfect

one endless road

nowhere each way

but away, away

here in our place between

zero and one

love me from here 

to the end of that sun

here in our place between

before we die

love me from here

to the end of that sky

if you ever leave me

but you will never leave me

but if you ever leave me

I will be in every reflection

I will be the ghost in your night 

I will be in every direction

I will be, I will be, I will be

but you will never leave me

bounded by perfect

surveyor lines

fences and rails

the horizon

bounded by perfect

circular sun

hard solid earth
plain hard sky

intentional love song 19: rescue

wounded in a corner, you sit

crumpled on the floor, you sit

slumped at the bar, you sit

falling through a door

into another country

and sending all the messages home

what will become of your soul?

where will it fly to now?

go through your inventory

let your anger roar

jealousy, lust, and fear

we've seen it all before

tick, tick, tick

the source of your fear, in here

a stack of curled bones, in here

a bundle of nerves, in here

sending out runners

to the ends of your senses

and sending all the messages home

what will become of your soul?

where will it fly to now?

you want me now 

to come to the rescue

the jaws of life opening 

wide to extricate you

tick, tick, tick

extricate your soul 

from the wreck of your heart?

as if ever the two
could be teased apart!

intentional love song 18: love is love

[[ As in all situations, change genders freely. It's a love-centered love song about love (losing love) love love.  ]]

love is longing to be

love becomes love

love is love is love is love is love

I am only love

but

love is falling apart

love undoes love

love is no longer, no longer love 

I am nothing

then I am mourning

I am mourning love

you catch yourself 

crying for

crying out loud

get hold yourself

you're s'posed to be 

right by now

get over yourself

but it's not me 

I am mourning

then get over him

but it's not him 

I am mourning

I am mourning love

but 

love is longing to be

love becomes love

love is love is love is love is love

I am only love

love is falling apart

love undoes love

love is no longer, no longer love 

I am nothing

then I am mourning

I am mourning love

you catch yourself 

crying for

crying out loud

get hold yourself

you're s'posed to be 

right by now

get over yourself

but it's not me 

I am mourning

then get over him

but it's not him 

I am mourning

I am mourning love

I no longer breathe the breath of life

love is the aroma of life

I no longer taste the flavor of life

love is the season of life

love is the season of life

love is the season of life

and love has died

but

love is longing to be

love becomes love

love is love is love is love is love

I am only love

intentional love song 15: they get along (two girls in love)

[[ Just a lesbian love song, or a lesbian appreciation song (written from a third-person point of view. Also, silly jokes on 'they are coming for your children' and 'at the YMCA'. ]]

they get along, 

two girls in love 

with their local library

they get along, 

two girls in love 

with a cat named Harry

they get along, 

two girls in love 

with living 

in this town 

don't let them down

they get along, 

two girls in love 

with music playing in their ears

they get along, 

two girls in love 

at the corner pub with beers

they get along, 

two girls in love 

with living 

in this town 

don't let them down

somebody said 

they're probably sisters,

they have to be sisters,

no one could rightly say

somebody wondered 

where were their misters

a girl needs a mister

I said, it's not like it was in your day

it's not like it was in your day

they are coming for your children

as you arranged the other day

they are taking them for homework help

at the YMCA

they get along, 

like two girls in a song

intentional love song 14: your eyes are like your eyes

[[ no metaphor, no simile, just what it is: your eyes are like your eyes ]]

love is not something it is not

simple love

no metaphor

no simile

what is it for

but to say your eyes

are not your eyes

simple love

no metaphor

no simile

what is it for

but to say your skin

is not your skin

your eyes are like 

your eyes are like

your eyes are like 

your eyes...

your eyes collect the light and turn it into thought

intentional love song 13: Never get over

[[ a brooding song, with memories called up like pages from self-help articles, museum dioramas, films, plays  ]]

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Never get over.

I go through things

like the agony aunts

in magazines

a thousand times

in waiting rooms

I go through things

like a bad museum

with manikins

still holding poses

as if they were real

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Do you dwell on things?

Do you live on that street?

Do you eat and breathe, 

Do you dream it?
Do you?

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Never get over.

I go through things

prime vintage porn flick

with funk slap bass

here comes the pizza

but the plumber's here

I go through things

like art house drama

with painted tears

and painted laughter

to an angular dance

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Do you dwell on things?

Do you live on that street?

Do you eat and breathe, 

Do you dream it?

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Never get over.

intentional love song 12: the breathing

when you call 

I feel the phone

in your hand

I hear the shape 

of the room

where you stand

I hear you breathe

and I know

you are there

how real you are 

even though 

so far so far so far

how real you are 

faith is a hovercraft

floating on its own breath

I think of how 

you are breathing 

other air

I think of how 

you are your own

atmosphere

I hear you breathe

and I know

you are there

how real you are 

even though

so far so far so far

how real you are 

faith is a hovercraft

floating on its own breath

how real you are
even though
faith is a hovercraft
adrift on its own breath

intentional love song 10: make yourself known

[[ love somewhere ]]

I still look for you, 

whoever you are

we could meet

where two rivers meet

under ancient trees

we could meet

at the grocery store

buying carrots and peas

but when we meet

and I believe we will meet

be anything 

only bring 

yourself to me and me alone

make yourself known

I still look for you, 

whoever you are

we could meet

at a crossroads

lost in the hills

we could meet

at a chain cafe

getting refills

but when we meet

and I believe we will meet

be anything 

only bring 

yourself to me and me alone

make yourself known

intentional love song 9: I've seen this movie

I've seen this movie

I know how it ends

the leading man leaves her

for one of her friends

some actor pretends

to be a regular guy

pretending he's faithful

and thinking he's sly

think I'll leave before the rain

I've seen this movie

and nobody dies

it's not that kind of movie

she just cries

she just cries

yeah, this is the part where she cries

he tries to convince her

it's all in her brain

I think I'll leave before

she thinks she's insane

I've seen this movie

I know how it goes

if I leave before the end

watch your toes

maybe I can beat the rain

I've seen this movie

and nobody dies

it's not that kind of movie

she just cries

she just cries

yeah, this is the part where she cries